League of American Bicyclists Executive Director Andy Clarke will attend the upcoming Oregon Bicycle Tourism Summit planned for April 13-14th in Sisters, Oregon.

Summit organizer Jerry Norquist — who confirmed Clarke’s attendance — said Clarke will share insights and inspirations from the National Bike Summit, which happens a month earlier in Washington D.C.

Last year’s Oregon Bike Tourism Summit took place in Eugene and brought together advocates, manufacturers, elected officials and interested cititzens to exchange ideas on how to make Oregon the #1 state for bicycle tourism.

[A scene from the 2006Bicycle Tourism Summit in Eugene, Oregon.]

This year’s event will take place at the Five Pine Conference Center in Sisters, Oregon (North of Bend) and will be followed by the the 23rd annual Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism which takes place in Sunriver a day later. Norquist has also expanded this year’s summit to two days with an event on Friday night and a full schedule on Saturday.

If you are interested in making Oregon the premier destination for bicycling in the U.S., make your plans to join us at the Summit.

Stay tuned for more details, and an update on the list of speakers and workshops once they’re finalized.

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I know that Colorado has a huge bicycle tourism industry, and apparently Wisconsin does really well two. These two states are the only ones I know of who have done statewide studies about the economic value of the bicycling sector, so the fact that these states placed a priority on studying it either supports the fact that is a major economic sector, OR it just shows that once you have a study people can hang their hat on it.

My impression is that these states have done more than Oregon has to promote bicycle tourism.

p.s. if anyone’s reading this who can make it happen, I’ve wanted a similar statewide economic study for Oregon for years now. I think the results would surprise a lot of folks in the tourism industry and might convince them that this is an industry they should be supporting.

I know that Oregon Dept. of Park and Rec. has named a full-time “Bicycle Recreation” staff person and it seems they would be a good person to contact (I can’t find the name at the moment).

I also know that there has been an informal group working for several years on this effort and they would be the natural ones to commission this study. I’m sure they are working to find the money to make a study like this happen.

… Maine is also a state that has poured millions into creating bike maps and promoting bicycle travel as a major tourist activity.

“I can’t help but have some hometown pride and think that Oregon has some pretty special stuff that would help us compete well with Wisconsin, Maine and Colorado.”

That’s an understatement! ;-).

Oregon has just been named the “Top Dog” for mountain biking by IMBA. We have one of the best racing organizations (OBRA) and several of the most bike-friendly cities in the country (Corvallis, Eugene, Portland).

We also have Cycle Oregon, the premier week-long, fully-supported ride and Bridge Pedal, one of the largest one-day fun rides in the country with nearly 20,000 people participating.

We also have a ton of industry (Burley, Rolf/Prima, Chris King, UBI, and many others) that would help support the effort.

It’s a no-brainer and I expect a lot more action on this issue in 2007.

The problem is that we don’t have a state bicycle tourism staffer/department who creates maps, signed routes, promotional ads and campaigns and all the things that make Maine the most likely leader in bike tourism, despite all the other bikey stuff here.